 |
| The Grateful Dead performing at the Mill Valley Recreation Center on December 6, 1980. They opened for Santa Claus (who to my knowledge, did not invite Jerry to jam with him). |
Most Deadheads, myself included, have never met anyone who attended the December 6, 1980 Grateful Dead show at the Mill Valley Recreation Center. Partially that is because only 60 people attended, and partially this is because the show was organized for some youthful muscular dystrophy patients.Yet since the show was mentioned by rock critic Joel Selvin in his Sunday column for the San Francisco Chronicle, paradoxically the event was widely known despite the tiny size of the crowd.
I am also going to make the case, however, that the show was influential for the Grateful Dead, and in particular for Jerry Garcia. Garcia and the Dead had always been under enormous pressure from their friends and associates to appear at benefit concerts, and in general Garcia and the other band members were often willing. By 1980, however, the ability of the band to appear at benefits was increasingly complicated. The acoustic configuration of the band that had been debuted at the Warfield a few months earlier, however, provided a ready solution.
The Mill Valley Rec Center concert showed Garcia and the Dead that they could make a simple appearance in an acoustic setting. The equipment was manageable, which meant the scheduling was easier, and the expectations were more easily managed. Garcia in particular managed to demonstrate, without overtly stating it, that a Jerry Garcia benefit appearance was going to be a shorter and quieter event than a full-on Garcia Band or Dead show. As a result, Garcia, Bob Weir and other members of the Grateful Dead were able to participate in far more benefit concerts and public appearances than would have been likely with the full band. In the later 80s, with Neil Young's Bridge Concert and MTV Unplugged, acoustic-only appearances became standard for major rock stars. As would happen so often, the Grateful Dead had been proof-of-concept for the rock concert industry.
This post will look at how the Dead and Jerry Garcia participated in benefit concerts prior to 1980, and also how the possibility of appearing acoustic transformed their opportunities. Insights, reflections and corrections actively welcomed in the Comments.
 |
| The Grateful Dead (formerly The Warlocks) played the third SF Mime Troupe Benefit concert at the Fillmore Auditorium on January 14, 1966, organized by Bill Graham |
Benefit Rock Concerts
Prior to the Fillmore era, there were two distinct models of benefit concerts. One version was the Hollywood one--a major entertainer would headline a show, and the profits would be turned over to the beneficiary. In general, however, the performers got paid, as did everyone else involved. The charity was just receiving the profits, if any. Stars were providing their selling power to the cause, but not for free.
The other kind of benefit came out of folk music circles, and was more of a direct fundraiser. Performers would play for free, most or all of the people working on the show were working for free, and often enough the venue was at a sympathetic coffee house where costs were almost nothing. The performers bought their guitars, sang their songs, and almost all of the money raised went directly to the cause. This sort of model worked well in the folk scene, where people were often passionate about something urgent, and where all the performers merely had to show up, since they could just borrow a guitar if they had to. If someone needed to be bailed out right away, a couple of popular folk singers at a local bar could quickly raise enough money. In any case, on the folk scene, even popular performers had almost no money, so contributing their talents to a cause was often the only help they could really offer.
The Fillmore scene was essentially invented on the folk model, as a benefit for the San Francisco Mime Troupe's legal defense. Local bands had donated their talents, and Mime Troupe business manager Bill Graham put on a concert on a shoestring, raising enough money to fight the charges. The first Benefit was at a loft, and the second and third at a mostly African-American dance hall called the Fillmore Auditorium. Pretty rapidly, Graham realized he was on to something. The Fillmore concerts rapidly became commercial, but benefits for a wide variety of causes were common at the Fillmore and the Avalon through the 1960s, as well as around the local scene.
The economic structure of Fillmore-style benefits was a hybrid. The bands donated their services, or at least that was what was promulgated. The concert, however, save for an introductory speech or two, was a commercial event designed to raise money. All the trappings of a regular concert--sound, lights, concession stands, etc--were expected to be in place for the paying fans. The hall had to be rented and house staff had to be paid, so it wasn't like a hootenanny in a coffee shop. Generally speaking, it was understood that a band was donating its services, but it wasn't free to truck over all the band's gear, so they got a little money for expenses. How much any band got for expenses at any given benefit in the 60s is a subject that brings silence. Certainly, even bands like the Grateful Dead were living hand-to-mouth, so renting equipment for a one-time show wasn't always something they could absorb.
By the early 1970s, rock concert benefits at places like Winterland had evolved. They were big, multi-act events. Band often played them as much for the publicity as for any cause. Graham said publicly in 1976 that he always paid his staff at a benefit, but allowed them to forgo payment if they wanted to support the cause (he said "that used to happen a lot in the '60s," implying it wasn't common any more). There was also a lot of risk associated with a benefit concert. Even if the bands took minimal expenses, any concert could still lose money.
 |
| The Grateful Dead played a benefit concert at Winterland on May 28, 1969, along with many other groups, to raise money for protesters arrested at Berkeley's People's Park |
Grateful Dead Benefit History
The Grateful Dead had a well-deserved reputation for playing a lot of benefit concerts in the '60s, part and parcel of their willingness to play for free. Now, the Dead themselves did not see playing for free in the park as the same as appearing at a benefit concert, but to the public at large both were a mark of the band's willingness to give their music freely to their fans. Most '60s benefits at the Fillmores or the Avalon were run by Bill Graham's or Chet Helms' house staff, so they were proper events with good sound systems. How much cash the Dead (or any band) was slipped to cover expenses for any given event is lost to history.
One confusing feature of early Grateful Dead concerts was that many events on college campuses had to have their profits designated to a charity, as part of the condition of renting a college facility. Thus there are a lot of campus events where a little note on the poster says something like "Benefit For Children's Adventure Day Camp." For these campus arrangements, the deal was that the band and producer would be paid a contracted amount, and any excess profits went to the designated charity. Whether any money ever went to such charities was an afterthought. Still, campus facilities made good venues for a benefit well into the '70s. The New Riders of The Purple Sage played some benefits at UC Berkeley, for example, at smaller places like Pauley Ballroom (capacity about 1000).
As the 1970s wore on, however, a Grateful Dead performance at a benefit became more problematic. For one thing, as the Dead became more popular, a Dead concert became bigger than ever. Also, since the Dead were one of the few intact bands since the Fillmore days, they had a wider range of friends and "family" asking for a benefit to support a needy cause. Finally, once the Grateful Dead permanently settled into their early 70s mode of providing their own sound systems, a Dead concert had to be scheduled in advance, and coordinated with the band, crew and venues. They couldn't just say "let's play on Tuesday" and send Rock Scully out to rent a flatbed truck and some Fender amps, like they had done back in 1966.
One of the most famous Grateful Dead benefit concerts was their show for the Kesey family's Springfield Creamery. The outdoor show at Veneta, OR was a Grateful Dead legend, with 20,000 fans seeing three sets of primo Dead, captured by a film and an album. The story is too epic to summarize, but Jesse Jarnow and Rich Mahan captured it all in their thorough two-part Deadcast. The irony? 20,000 fans, the Dead took only expenses, and the concert lost money anyway. The Dead, being the Dead, donated $10,000 to the Springfield Creamery anyway, but it's an object lesson in why they weren't actually dying to play benefits.
Jerry Garcia and his various ensembles were easier to facilitate for a benefit, at least in the '70s. But even those had problems. For example, an infamous benefit was held at Winterland on October 2, 1973 with Garcia/Saunders, Hot Tuna and others, but Sam Cutler never explained to Bill Graham that it was a benefit for a Richmond Hell's Angel. The actual story is quite murky--I mean, why did "Badger" need a benefit concert?--but a furious Graham complained to the Chronicle. Ultimately he gave the money to the four bands that played. This pointed up another risk for benefits: performers had to have confidence that the beneficiary was worthy and not just telling a tale. This became all the more complex if one band member was trying to persuade the others to put on a show for his own friend’s cause.
 |
| On March 22, 1978 the Jerry Garcia Band with Robert Hunter and Comfort played a benefit concert at Sebastopol Veterans Auditorium, for a local newspaper and an Arts Guild |
By the end of the 1970s, the Grateful Dead limited their benefits to some clearly demarcated circumstances. 1979 and '80, The Dead played five nights at Oakland Auditorium between Christmas and New Year's, and designated the first night of each run as benefits for Wavy Gravy's SEVA Foundation. In both cases, Wavy was a known quantity to the entire band, the sound system and scheduling was part of the band's normal calendar, and Bill Graham kept the whole thing running smoothly. The Dead also participated in the Cambodian Refugee benefit that Joan Baez had organized with Bill Graham, at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, on January 13, 1980. The Dead shared the stage with other bands, quite rare for them, but they trusted Graham to have a proper sound system, and the Coliseum was just a car-ride away from Marin. But benefit concerts were increasingly difficult propositions, with the financial risk high and fan expectations even higher.
 |
| The English group Pentangle opening for the Grateful Dead at Fillmore West on March 1, 1969 (early set). Singer Jacquie McShee and guitarist Bert Jansch. (Photo by Michael Parrish) |
Acoustic Live Grateful Dead
In 1969, the groundbreaking English band Pentangle had opened four shows at Fillmore West for the Grateful Dead, and then again in Detroit (July 6 '69 at the Grande). Garcia had been struck by their sound, with twin acoustics and a rhythm section, amplified over a proper sound system. By 1970, the Dead started playing acoustic numbers in earnest. From May until November 1970, the band opened most shows with a quartet of Garcia and Weir on acoustic guitars, Lesh on bass and one of the drummers, pretty much the Pentangle configuration. Although fondly remembered by fans, the Dead stopped performing this way because of concerns about adequate sound. Acoustic Grateful Dead seemed to have gone away with American Beauty. November 26, 1978 Rambler Room, Loyola University, Chicago, IL: Bob Weir and Friends (Friday) afternoon show Hunger Week Benefit
The anomalous show in this narrative was a Friday afternoon performance at Loyola University in Chicago. Garcia and Weir played acoustic guitars, Lesh played bass and Hart played snare drums with brushes. The group did 9 songs, including some odd old folk songs (like "Tom Dooley"). Only about 100 people were lucky enough to see it. When we finally heard about this show in Berkeley--news traveled slowly--it seemed imaginary.
Jerrybase has the story, and frankly it still seems unlikely, except that it's true:
Jerry explained this in an 11/7/79 interview: "Dan Healy has a cousin who is involved in Loyola University in Chicago. They were doing a little small benefit for a famine relief thing in Pakistan, and so we got involved in doing just that - an acoustic show, Bob and I and Phil playing electric bass very quietly, and Mickey playing a little snare drum with brushes. ... we rehearsed it about 15 minutes before we went in and did it. We enjoyed it really a lot."
The only conclusion we can really draw from the Loyola show was that although neither Garcia nor Weir had played any acoustic shows in years, the possibility wasn't lost on them.
 |
| The back cover of Dead Reckoning, a double-lp recorded from the acoustic sets in San Francisco and New York in October 1980. Released on Arista Records, April 1981 |
When the Grateful Dead began their residency at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco on September 25, 1980, opening night fans (including me) were thrilled to see the curtain rise on an acoustic Grateful Dead. The Dead busted out a glorious "Bird Song," also unseen for many years, and the acoustic Dead was back. The Dead played acoustic sets at the fifteen Warfield shows, two in New Orleans and then the eight Radio City shows to close out October. It was widely understood that the Dead were recording these shows for a forthcoming live album.
 |
| In the December 14, 1980 SF Chronicle, Joel Selvin wrote "THE GRATEFUL DEAD played before the smallest audience in the band's career last weekend at the Mill Valley Rec Center. In an unpublicized acoustic gig that didn't even hit the normally hyperactive Grateful Dead grapevine, the group performed for less than 60 people, most victims of muscular dystrophy. During the show, the doors to the deck were opened and some--those that were able--danced in the sunlight. Band members reportedly departed wearing large smiles." |
The Dead played four Southeastern shows in November, with no acoustic sets. Although no one knew about the Mill Valley Rec Center show when it happened, Joel Selvin wrote about it the next weekend, so hopeful Deadheads took it as a sign that the acoustic configuration was not finished. Some details circulated later, from sources I can no longer trace. Supposedly someone who worked in the Grateful Dead office had a sister who was a nurse in the Marin "Ronald McDonald House," who had organized the outing. Also, supposedly, a doctor on site kept signaling Garcia to back off, without quite realizing that the quieter the Dead played, the more powerful they were.
After Mill Valley, the Dead played three shows in Southern California, and then the New Year's Eve stand at Oakland Auditorium, with no acoustic set until the very end. On New Year's Eve 1980, the Dead opened the evening with a full acoustic set. Yet when the Dead kicked off an Eastern tour on February 26 (in Chicago), followed by a few European dates, there were no acoustic sets. It seemed like the acoustics were just for the album, and would fade away as they had a decade earlier. But--not quite.
A Lost Robert Hunter Album
In early 1981, Robert Hunter worked on some songs in the studio with Jerry Garcia and John Kahn. Garcia and Hunter played acoustic guitars. I assume Garcia's comfort with his new Takamine acoustic was a factor in choosing to use it. Intriguingly, Kahn chose to play his upright bass. Now, Kahn was formally trained in the bass, and had gone to the San Francisco Conservatory as a bassist in Fall '66. He had been sidetracked, however, when his roommate inveigled him into renting an electric bass and playing in a Top 40 band. Kahn had brought out his upright bass for Old And In The Way, but otherwise I'm not aware of him playing it. Still, it made more sense to accompany Garcia and Hunter on acoustics playing an upright bass. There is a single photo of the trio rehearsing, I believe, but no trace of the tape. I have no idea what songs they worked on.
Jesse Jarnow uncovered an astonishing detail in a 1981 Robert Hunter interview. Hunter, apparently, had recorded an entire album with Garcia, Kahn and the drummers. Photographer Herbie Greene had even created an album cover photo. I have no idea what label it might have been aimed at, or what actual songs were recorded. Still--the important thing for this story is that Kahn and Garcia had their acoustic chops up.
 |
| An ad for the Sing Out For Sight SEVA Benefit at Berkeley Community Theater, April 25, 1981 |
April 25, 1981 Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley, CA: Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir/Country Joe McDonald/Odetta/Rosalie Sorrells/Kate Wolf (Saturday) SEVA Sing Out For Sight (An Acoustic Concert)
Early in April, an intriguing concert was advertised at Berkeley Community Theater. Wavy Gravy was hosting a SEVA Benefit, and the headliners were Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir. The ad said "An Acoustic Concert," so it was clear that Garcia and Weir were not placeholders for the full Grateful Dead. As the show neared, we noted that the Jerry Garcia Band had a booking at The Stone in San Francisco that same night. Typically, Garcia came onstage at The Stone at around 11:00pm, so that suggested a modest set by Garcia and Weir relatively early in the concert, so Garcia could take the 20-minute drive over to The Stone. Long-ago 1970 tapes suggested that Jerry and Bob could be a sort of hippie Everly Brothers, and that was good enough for me.
Garcia and Weir indeed came out early, the third of six acts. But their appearance brought a larger surprise. It wasn't just Jerry and Bob onstage--it was Jerry and Bob playing acoustics, Hart and Kreutzmann on drums and John Kahn on upright bass. Unlike the 1980 sets, all five musicians were standing. There was even a break-out, a lively version of "Oh Boy." The concert was an interesting event in its own right, which I have written about at length, so I needn't repeat it all. The key point was that Garcia and Weir weren't done playing acoustic. But what conclusions could we draw from this unexpected lineup?
The first issue, now largely forgotten, was what did John Kahn's presence portend? In the olden days, it was hard to get reliable information about the recent East Coast shows on the opposite coast. After these shows we asked around to confirm that Phil Lesh was on board on the Eastern tour, and he was. So he hadn't been fired. Really, in 1981, except for the Beatles, rock news wasn't always disseminated. It wasn't unheard of to see your favorite band and find a different lineup on stage. But that didn't apply here, fortunately. Later, Dennis McNally told me that he asked Phil Lesh about why he didn't play this show (and the following one) and Lesh told him "because I wasn't asked."
Here's what I think happened. Wavy Gravy proposed an acoustic benefit and asked Garcia and Weir to perform. The show would not have been viable without a Grateful Dead presence. Once they said yes, the show could get booked. Garcia and Weir, in turn, knowing they were playing acoustic, did not have to engage the entire Grateful Dead touring operation. There was an Eastern tour set to begin April 30 in Greensboro, NC and the sound, light and road crews had probably planned around it. What I assume is that Garcia asked Kahn to play, since they had been practicing acoustically anyway. Presumably, Wavy or Weir asked the drummers, and suddenly they had a quorum.
While Billy and Mickey had a "Rhythm Devils" duet later in the show (with Garcia already on his way to the Stone), note that Mickey isn't on the advertisement. I take that to mean it wasn't confirmed, a mark of the casualness of the gig. I doubt that the quintet rehearsed. Here was a model for benefits that would work for Garcia and Weir. By announcing the show as "acoustic," there was no formal expectation of the Grateful Dead. Conversely, for local Heads, it meant something out of the ordinary, which was well worth attending. Thus the drawing power of the Grateful Dead was leveraged without creating the expensive, risky headache of a full Dead concert.
May 22, 1981 Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart & Friends/Country Joe McDonald/Norton Buffalo and Merl Saunders/Holly Near/Kate Wolf/Daryl Henriques (Saturday) Benefit for Nuclear Disarmament
Shortly after the SEVA benefit in Berkeley, a similar event was announced for The Warfield. This time it was a benefit for Nuclear Disarmament. At the time, hard as it may be to process now, support for Nuclear Disarmament was seen as relatively "non-political", since it was the policy of neither the Republican nor Democratic Party. The show was billed as "Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Friends in an Acoustic Set" so it was pretty clear that it was going to be similar to the Berkeley show. By the time the show took place, an East Coast Dead tour had come and gone, so we could discern that such shows portended no changes in the Grateful Dead proper.
This time, Garcia and the crew appeared last, like genuine headliners. There were numerous opening acts, and I have written about the experience of seeing the show at some length. The highlight of the openers was Country Joe McDonald with Norton Buffalo, Norton Buffalo, Merl Saunders and Mickey Hart, essentially a preview of Hart's new band High Noon. Wavy Gravy was the MC, once again. He introduced the headliners with "Ladies and Gentlemen, can you welcome Captain Jerry Bob KreutzHart," very carefully not calling them the Grateful Dead. John Kahn was again on upright bass, but Brent Mydland had joined on grand piano. They played about a dozen songs (with a drum bit) in an hour-long set.
At the time, this seemed like a coming thing, an acoustic Grateful Dead with John Kahn on bass, playing select events. This turned out not to be the case, not at all. The lesson I take in retrospect, however, was that both Jerry and Bob recognized that they could agree to perform benefits without directly engaging the Grateful Dead proper. The band had created the expectation that appearing at an acoustic benefit implied a short set and no commitment to "do the Grateful Dead thing."
October 7-9, 1977 Greek Theatre, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Hoyt Axton/Joan Baez/Theodore Bikel/Boys Of The Lough/Sandy Bull/Ramblin' Jack Elliott/Mimi Farina/Arlo Guthrie/John Herald Band/County Joe McDonald/John McEuen/Maria Muldaur/Terry Garthwaite and Toni Brown/Mickey Newbury/Tom Paxton/The Persuasions/Malvina Reynolds/Pete Seeger/Dave Van Ronk (Friday-Sunday) Benefit For the Bread & Roses Foundation
In fact, acoustic benefits featuring popular stars in specialized settings already had a precedent in the Bay Area. Mimi Farina, Joan Baez's sister, had an organization called the Bread & Roses Foundation, which provided musicians to perform at prisons, retirement homes and similar institutions. While Bread & Roses had held some benefits since 1974, they were in serious need of funding, so the hugely connected Farina arranged a benefit at Berkeley's 7500-seat Greek Theater on the weekend of October 7-9, 1977. The biggest star on the poster was sister Joan, and the other acts were generally who you might have expected. Yet there were numerous unexpected guest appearances, like a reunion of Peter, Paul and Mary, who were joined on stage by Graham Nash and Maria Muldaur.
The Bread & Roses Benefit, with its acoustic format, became an annual event at the Greek Theatre. The acoustic format allowed guest appearances by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Stephen Stills, Neil Young and many others. It was widely understood that any rock star who appeared wouldn't have a full band, the sets would be shorter, but in return there would be unique presentations.
 |
| A poster for the third annual Bread & Roses Festival, held at Berkeley's Greek Theatre over three days on October 5-7, 1979. All the acts played acoustic sets, mostly solo. |
By the third annual event in 1979, Blair Jackson, in the Bay Guardian, called the Third Annual Festival in 1979 the “most important and consistently entertaining annual musical event of the west coast. Its specialness is the joyous spirit that permeates every minute…” So acoustic benefits with multiple acts were an established concept in the Bay Area. The twist the Grateful Dead put on these shows was that the Dead were primarily an electric band, but playing in an acoustic setting. Rock stars who had played at Bread & Roses, exciting as it was to hear, were those with an established acoustic performing history. Neil Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash or Joni Mitchell, for example, were well known for recording and performing in an acoustic setting, even if they went full electric on occasion.
Now, even in 1981, hardcore Deadheads knew about the 1970 acoustic sets, and it was broadly known that Jerry Garcia had started out playing bluegrass. And sure, people knew American Beauty. But the overwhelming number of people who had ever heard or liked the Dead, whether full "Deadheads" or just rock fans, only knew the Grateful Dead as an electric band. So seeing the Dead perform live with acoustic instruments was a different thing. Dead Reckoning had been released in April, 1981, a double-lp of acoustic performances from the October shows in the Warfield and Radio City. So modern rock fans had finally heard the acoustic Grateful Dead, but seeing them do it live was still a rare thing.
 |
| The Sunday, December 6, 1981 SF Chronicle Datebook (aka Pink Section) had a photo promoting the upcoming benefit in San Jose with Jerry Garcia, Joan Baez and Mickey Hart |
December 12, 1981 Fiesta Hall, San Mateo County Fairgrounds, San Mateo, CA: Joan Baez, Jerry Garcia & Mickey Hart/High Noon (Saturday) Dance For Disarmament
The next Grateful Dead benefit built on the previous assumptions, but it was a hybrid of sorts. There was no advertising that I recall, just some publicity notices. The event was promoted as "Joan Baez, Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart and Friends," so an acoustic show seemed in order. Fiesta Hall held around 2000 people in concert configuration, and it was on the San Mateo County Fairgrounds, midway between San Francisco and Palo Alto. The tag "Dance For Disarmament" told us that it was both a benefit and that there would be no seats, as "Dance" was code for festival seating. People like me snapped up tickets instantly, not concerned over exactly what we get to see. Jerry Garcia was popular in the Bay Area, but a regular performer, so there wasn't madness associated with it.
 | ||
| The "upcoming concerts" listing in the Pink Section actually had more information. Lesh and Weir would be there, too. Sharp-eyed Deadheads noted that Lesh precluded John Kahn (a pretty good week for concerts around the Bay Area, I might add. I saw the Zappa show, holy cow, he played most of Tinseltown Rebellion with Steve Vai and Vinnie Coliauta). |
At this time, Mickey Hart and Joan Baez were a couple. Baez had been recording some original material with the Dead as her backing band, although this was publicly unknown at the time. While it's plain that musically, the event would showcase Joan with the Dead in acoustic setting, it's not at all clear if the Dead originally intended to play electric, or that was decided upon later. In any case, when we got to Fiesta Hall, there was a full sound system. Mickey's band High Noon opened the show, albeit with an ad-hoc lineup (with the great Chuck Rainey on bass instead of Bobby Vega, and no Norton Buffalo). During their set, they were joined by Joan Baez, who also played some solo numbers.
As we anticipated, Joan and the full Grateful Dead came out for an acoustic set, with Phil on electric bass and Brent on grand piano. The set mostly featured Joan Baez, with some duets with Bob. She played six of her new songs, and, well, they weren't very good. I have softened over the years, but Joan Baez and the Dead didn't really work as an ensemble. I have written at length about this show, and Joan's two shows later in the month (Dec 30 & 31), so I won't recap it all. The show ended with a single electric set by the full Grateful Dead. On the whole, a very enjoyable time, but the Dead never attempted its like again. They rapidly became too popular, and the demands of a sound system became too great. This may have been the last time the band played on a rented PA in the Bay Area.
After the two acoustic sets with Joan Baez to end the year, the full Grateful Dead never played another acoustic set.
April 13, 1982 NBC Studios, New York, NY: Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir (Tuesday) Late Night With David Letterman Show
The Grateful Dead were on a Spring East Coast tour. In between dates at Nassau Coliseum (Apr 10 & 11) and Upstate (Glens Falls Apr 14), Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir appeared on the David Letterman Show. They played two songs as an acoustic duo, and were briefly interviewed by Letterman. The acoustic format allowed them to appear on a Nationwide show without the entire Grateful Dead circus. Both Garcia and Weir, in different combinations, would appear on Letterman shows several more times (for a complete list, see Deadisc here).
May 28, 1982 Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Starship/Grateful Dead/Boz Scaggs/Country Joe McDonald (Friday) Benefit for the Vietnam Veterans Project
San Francisco's new Moscone Convention Center, named after murdered Mayor George Moscone, had opened earlier in 1982. The main floor had a concert capacity of close to 20,000. The venue was inaugurated with a benefit for Vietnam Veterans by San Francisco rock legends. Jefferson Starship actually came on last, but the Dead were the big draw. Boz Scaggs appeared with the Dead for a few numbers. Some other guests sat in with the Dead, like Airto and John Cipollina. Pete Sears played bass for the Dead for the last few numbers.
The concert drew between 10,000 and 15,000, and apparently $175,000 was raised. However, the sound at the low-ceiling Moscone was reportedly terrible. The Moscone was never used for another major rock concert, to my knowledge, and this was also the last stand of the Dead and the Jeffersons together.
 |
| Dick Latvala clipped an article about the Salem Prison show for his scrapbook |
June 5, 1982 Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, OR: Jerry Garcia & Kahn (Saturday) afternoon show, not open to the public
In April 1982, Jerry Garcia and John Kahn started touring as an acoustic duo. John Scher had figured, correctly, that there was a huge appetite for Garcia as long as there wasn't too much repetition, and a Garcia/Kahn show was inevitably different than a Garcia Band show. It didn't hurt at all that with just two players and relatively minimal equipment, the overhead was much lower and the profit higher than a full band.
One of the duo's first bookings was a short tour of Oregon. Thus Garcia and Kahn were available to play an afternoon show at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Jesse Jarnow and JGMF did the research, and it turned out that an imprisoned impresario named Steve Stilling put on the show. So this was a paying gig, not a favor, but I'm comfortable asserting that only the acoustic duo made it plausible.
Bay Area Music magazine (aka "BAM") was a free tabloid given away biweekly in record stores and similar places throughout the Bay Area. It had begun publishing in 1976. Although the journalism wasn't consistently high quality, particularly after Blair Jackson left, it was still a must-read for Bay Area music fans. The ads alone would tell any reader what was going on with rock music in the region, and even if the articles were sort of puff pieces, you could at least find out what bands were currently doing. BAM founder Dennis Erokan put on an annual Bay Area Music Awards show, called "The Bammies," featuring various popular local bands.
The Bammie Awards were chosen by popular vote. This was before the Internet, so you actually had to cut something out of the magazine and mail it in, with a stamp and an envelope. This sort of effort inordinately favored Deadheads, so members of the Dead won "best guitarist" and "best bassist" every year, whether or not they had an album. The Dead had a mixed reaction to BAM. On one hand, BAM had continually and enthusiastically supported the Dead, even when the Dead were supplanted by New Wave and the like (it didn't hurt that Blair Jackson had been an editor since '77 and he had hired David Gans). Even by '83, with the biggest Deadheads off the staff, BAM was still supportive of the Dead. On the other hand, the annual Bammies Award show was a big, industry shindig, not at all the kind of thing where the Dead thrived.
Garcia and Weir making an acoustic appearance at the Bammies was a good compromise. Several other acts played brief sets, so the duo's four songs fit right in. It was not at all a hardcore Deadhead audience, so no one was disappointed. The Bammies were always a benefit for something or other, but who knows if the concert itself actually made money. This may have been the year where Garcia agreed to play as long as the Dead were removed from future ballots. In any case, the Dead were ultimately removed from Bammie ballots, and the annual awards show faded away with BAM itself.
March 29-31, 1983 The Warfield, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead (Tuesday-Thursday) "Shotgun" Benefit
March 28-April 1, 1984 Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, San Rafael, CA: Grateful Dead (Wednesday-Saturday) Rex Foundation Benefit
In 1983, the Grateful Dead transformed their complicated relationship with Benefit concerts. They kicked off the touring year with three nights at the Warfield, and announced that these would be "shotgun" benefits for multiple causes. This would allow the Dead to collect the money and distribute it to a variety of recipients, instead of just anointing one. It's plain that this approach alleviated competition from friends and between different band members.
In the process of distributing the money, the Dead went on to create a Foundation to do so, and named it after former road manager Rex Jackson. The Rex Foundation became the Grateful Dead's charitable arm. Friends with causes, or causes with friends, made proposals to the Rex Foundation board on an annual basis. This was a far more rational basis for using benefit money. The first formal "Rex Foundation" benefit was the March 28-April 1 run at Marin Vets in San Rafael in 1984. At the time, the Warfield had been leased out, so the 2000-seat Vets stood in.
For the rest of their existence, the Grateful Dead generally did a run of concerts every year for the Rex Foundation, ultimately raising quite a bit of money. This removed the burden of performing benefits from the band. The Grateful Dead did do a Rain Forest Benefit at Madison Square Garden (Sep 24 '88), an AIDs Benefit at Oakland Stadium (May 27 '89) and an Earthquake Benefit at the Coliseum ( '89), but those were unique outliers. Individual band members were free to perform benefits for their friends or favorite causes as they saw fit, and the acoustic set up was far more flexible than electric arrangements.
August 28, 1984 Wolfgang's, San Francisco, CA: Rodney K. Albin Memorial Concert with Dinosaurs/Jerry Garcia/Country Joe McDonald and Friends/David Nelson/Rick and Ruby/others (Tuesday)
Rodney Albin had been a critical instigator for Jerry Garcia's initiation into the Peninsula Folk Scene. In 1962, then a College Of San Mateo student, Rodney had started a folk club in San Carlos. Looking for fellow travelers, he took his brother Peter and Peter's best friend, David Nelson, down to Kepler's Books in Menlo Park. They were in search of one Jerry Garcia. They found him on a couch in the back of the bookstore, playing twelve-string guitar for some pretty girls. History followed.
Rodney Albin had been an essential catalyst for the careers of Garcia, Nelson, his brother Peter, Chet Helms, Big Brother and The Holding Company, Robert Hunter and numerous other musical friends. He died of cancer at age 44, but he had a hell of a wake. Wolfgang's was Bill Graham's nightclub, at 901 Columbus Avenue in North Beach. Garcia and Kahn were the main act. It was appropriate for Garcia to play something resembling folk music for his old pal from his folk days (I have written about the Rodney Albin story and the concert itself in great detail).
September 29, 1984 Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, San Rafael, CA: Doobie Brothers/Jerry Garcia & John Kahn/Paul Butterfield and Rick Danko/Norton Buffalo/George Thorogood (Saturday)For reasons unclear to me, there was a tribute to Bill Graham at Marin Vets. This was produced by Bill Graham Presents, so it's hard to say who was tributing who. Garcia and Kahn played two numbers. Whatever arm twisting Bill had to do, it was a lot easier to persuade Garcia to just do a quick twofer and go home. I don't know much about this event.
May 5, 1985 Julia Morgan Center, Berkeley, CA: Bob Weir/Danny Kalb/Johnathan Richman/Kate Wolf (Sunday) SEVA Benefit
Wavy Gravy held another SEVA Benefit at the tiny, elegant Julia Morgan Center at 2640 College Avenue (at Derby Street) in Berkeley. The little, church-like hall, designed by Julia Morgan herself in 1908, had various uses over the decades. It was a women's center at one point, and in the 1960s it was the Center For World Music. In the 1970s, they made a go of being a sort of venue--I saw Johnathan Richman and The Modern Lovers do "Roadrunner" there in 1976--but it didn't last. In 1984, I did see Tom Constanten, of all people, playing with the Electric Guitar Quartet.
The engaging little hall only seated a few hundred, but it had nice acoustics. Bob Weir played a solo gig, I believe his first. He was joined for a few numbers by some of the other participants, including Danny Kalb (ex-Blues Project guitarist). Throughout the 1985-86 period, where the Grateful Dead were popular yet still before "Touch Of Grey," Garcia and Weir played a string of benefits and special events in their acoustic configurations.
 |
| Handbill for the August 27, 1985 Garcia & Kahn benefit at Wolfgang's (via GDSets) |
August 27, 1985 Wolfgang's, San Francisco, CA: Jerry Garcia & John Kahn (Tuesday) Benefit for Haight Ashbury Food Program
Garcia and Kahn returned to Wolfgang's to play a benefit for the Haight-Ashbury Food Program. This was apparently part of a settlement with a judge for a drug bust. The simplicity of a Garcia/Kahn gig made it easy for Garcia to meet his legal obligations.
Wavy Gravy booked Berkeley Community Theater on a Monday night for a Bread & Roses-style benefit. All of the acts played short acoustic sets. David Nelson and some pals played some bluegrass numbers, and Bob Weir joined them for three songs. Weir also played along with Ramblin' Jack Elliott for a song ("Whinin' Boy Blues"). A nice surprise was an early guest set by Stevie Ray Vaughan, who played four acoustic instrumentals before he rushed off to another gig (Vaughan's manager, Chesley Millikin, was old pals with the Dead, and everyone else in London, San Francisco and LA).
May 15, 1986 Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley, CA: Kantner-Balin-Casady Band/Ken Kesey/Mickey Hart/Bob Weir/Jerry Garcia & John Kahn (Thursday) SEVA and The Hog Farm Present Wavy Gravy's 50th Birthday Party and Benefit for Just About Everything
Wavy sold out the Berkeley Community for his 50th Birthday party. Garcia and Kahn opened the show. In the Bay Area, it was well understood that Garcia, even if he was a putative headliner, was likely to be on and off stage early. Bob Weir did a solo acoustic set, and Mickey Hart was joined by two dozen percussionists for a dramatic performance. After some Ken Kesey readings, the latest (and short-lived) iteration of the Jeffersons played an electric set.
August 7, 1986 Wolfgang's, San Francisco, CA: Bob Weir/Country Joe McDonald/Commander Cody/others (Thursday) Benefit For Vietnam Film Festival
After a July 7 show with Bob Dylan and Tom Petty at RFK stadium, Jerry Garcia fell into a coma and his life was at risk. All Grateful Dead shows were immediately canceled. The other band members continued to perform, however. At this Film Festival beneift, Weir did a solo acoustic show, playing a full 14-song set.
September 13, 1986, [venue], Chabot College, Hayward, CA: SEVA Benefit w/Bob Weir (Saturday)
Bob Weir was scheduled to make a solo appearance at a SEVA Benefit at Chabot College in Hayward (at 25555 Hesperian Blvd). Weir, however, had broken his arm in a bicycle accident a few weeks earlier and may not have appeared (or the event may have been canceled).
Oct 13, 1986 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mt View, CA: Bridge Benefit with Neil Young/Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young/Bruce Springsteen/Tom Petty/Don Henley/Robin Williams/Nils Lofgren (Monday)
Some threads came together with the first of Neil Young's "Bridge Concert" for the Bridge School. The Bridge School had been founded for severely disabled students that included Neil's own son. Neil scheduled a Benefit for the school at the 20,000 seat Shoreline Amphitheater that Bill Graham Presents had recently opened. The concert was presented on the Bread & Roses model, with short acoustic sets from a number of acts. Young himself had played a Bread & Roses concert (October 3, 1980), so he surely knew the format.
Besides the stellar, Hall-of-Fame quality bookings, one feature of the Bridge concert was that some of the headliners weren't "acoustic" acts at all. No one had seen Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty or Don Henley in an acoustic format since prior to their recording careers. To some extent, this was a reflection of the Grateful Dead's successful Warfield shows, and acoustic appearances by Garcia and Weir. I don't think Young was particularly aware of those shows, but Bill Graham Presents surely was, and they must have encouraged the format.
The Bridge Concert was sold out and a huge success. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young reformed for a few numbers, a very big deal at the time, and Bruce Springsteen played with just a few members of his band (Nils Lofgren on acoustic guitar and Phantom Dan Federici on accordian). Tom Petty played solo, and Don Henley played five numbers with an acoustic ensemble.
November 14, 1986 Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, San Rafael, CA: Maria Muldaur/Jerry Garcia & John Kahn/Peter Rowan (Friday) Bread & Roses Presents an Evening of Acoustic Music
Garcia and Kahn played a Bread & Roses benefit themselves. At this point, Garcia was recovering from his coma, and the Dead had not yet returned to action. Garcia, however, was playing around with the Jerry Garcia Band. This show was the last performance of the Garcia & Kahn duo. The acoustic pairing had been profitable at a time when Garcia and the Dead needed cash flow, and it was a change of pace compared to the JGB. Still, Garcia and Kahn never really used the configuration to its best advantage, since they could have played all sorts of material with little or no rehearsal.
November 22, 1986 The Warfield, San Francisco, CA: Kantner-Balin-Casady Band/Jerry Garcia & Bob Weir/The Tubes/Todd Rundgren (Saturday) Jane Dornacker Benefit
Jane Dornacker was a well-known Bay Area character, although few realized her deep roots in the hippie counterculture. She went all the way back to San Francisco State in 1965--then called "Stoner U,"--where she performed with Ernie Fosselius as "Earth Mother." In later years, she danced with The Tubes, was an actress (she was in 1983's The Right Stuff) and comedienne, and led a local rock band called Leila and The Snakes, among many other roles. She had finally hit it big, sort of, as a wacky Traffic reporter for KFRC from 1981-84. Dornacker had then gotten hired as a traffic reporter by the huge WNBC in New York in '85. On October 22, 1986, she died when her helicopter plunged into the Hudson River. The benefit was for her teenage daughter's college fund. On her behalf, comedians played Berkeley on Friday night, rock stars played Saturday night, and Robin Williams sold out the Warfield by himself on Sunday night. Numerous guests and friends dropped by all weekend.
Garcia and Weir played three numbers, joined by Mickey Hart. The nature of the billing was a clear sign to Deadheads that they would just get some acoustic numbers. Vince Welnick was a member of The Tubes at this time.
Weir made another solo appearance at a Vietnam Film Festival benefit.
The acoustic Dead performance at Mill Valley Rec Center had triggered the pattern of Garcia and Weir playing acoustic sets at benefit concerts. Fun as it was, however, at least for Bay Area residents, it hadn't actually created any significant music. The Garcia & Kahn duo was enjoyable, but didn't really open any new ground in the Garciaverse, and for the most part once you'd seen the duo a few times, there wasn't any urgency to see them again. The Artists Right Today Benefit reversed this polarity. Garcia and Kahn were booked as headliners to raise money for old Fillmore artists to regain their copyrights, held appropriately at the Fillmore Auditorium itself. Garcia, however, brought a quartet, and the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band was born. Their 18-month lifespan not only spawned some fine performances, but also provided a memorable flashback into the Old-Time folk music that had inspired Garcia in the first place.
The Grateful Dead family had held a Thanksgiving party in San Anselmo on November 23, mainly giving thanks that Garcia was alive, well and playing. Garcia, David Nelson, old pal Sandy Rothman and Dan Healy provided the entertainment, playing some old-time and bluegrass numbers. Garcia played banjo, his first time publicly playing that instrument in a long time. Garcia, Nelson and Rothman had been in bluegrass bands together (with various others) from 1963 to '65. Something seems to have inspired Garcia, whether his near-death experience, or just that he missed the music. On March 2, Garcia had Nelson, Rothman and Kahn record music he had written for a Levi's commercial. On March 17, he assembled them for a rehearsal. The quartet played the Fillmore benefit, with no notice. Everyone there would have expected Garcia and Kahn's bluesy excursions, only to get a delightful six-song set in an Old-Time style, with Rothman on mandolin and dobro, and three-part harmonies.
Legend has it that Bill Graham, who had produced the show, was so impressed that he came into the dressing room and said "I've gotta do something with this!" Garcia supposedly said "take us to Broadway, Bill," likely just having some ironic fun. But Graham knew something Jerry didn't, and indeed booked the Jerry Garcia Band and the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band for two memorable weeks at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater at W. 42nd Street and Broadway. The JGAB played a few other gigs, in LA and SF, and ultimately released a warm, memorable album. The long-delayed follow-up album was not released until 2010, but two good albums was more than the Garcia and Kahn had managed.
The Mill Valley Rec Center show had set Garcia on the path of acoustic benefits. That path reached fruition seven years later, when the acoustic benefit format allowed Garcia to take a chance with something fun and productive without the burdensome expectations of a full Jerry Garcia Band or Grateful Dead performance. The Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band only lasted 16 months and 36 shows, but it was a worthy exploration. It’s not a huge leap to see that Garcia's next several years of acoustic explorations with David Grisman had their genesis in the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band
Aftermath: "Touch Of Grey"
The Grateful Dead had been a successful touring act throughout the first part of the 1980s, although their finances were sometimes shaky. When Garcia returned from his coma in October 1986, the band's popularity was supercharged. Deadheads, at least, got a glimpse of fragility, and the band sold out everywhere. In July, 1987, the Dead finally released In The Dark, their first studio album in seven years, spawning the hit single "Touch Of Grey." The song in turn accompanied a popular MTV video, and the Grateful Dead abruptly created a new cohort of fans. The Dead went from popular to huge, and Jerry Garcia was no longer a guitarist with a little side gig. Garcia's willingness to play benefits on the side for his friends was no longer a casual affair.
Garcia's acoustic benefits had ultimately allowed the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band to form and thrive. By the time Garcia quite literally "got to Broadway," the Deadhead scene was superheated. By 1988, with the album complete and Garcia seemingly done with his look back to Old-Time music, the JGAB was put to rest along with the Garcia & Kahn duo. Rex Foundation concerts were more lucrative than ever, and Garcia or Weir benefits dropped away.
For completeness, I am listing the benefit concerts that happened after Touch Of Grey, save for any Rex shows.
December 17, 1987 The Warfield, San Francisco, CA: Joan Baez & Friends: A Christmas Concert (Thursday) Humanitas International and Bill Graham PresentsJerry Garcia, Bob Weir and John Kahn played seven songs, joined for the last two by Joan Baez. This was an AIDS Benefit, and was apparently broadcast on TV.
On a Saturday night in Winter '88, we got a glimpse of how things could be, if we were lucky. Carlos Santana presented a multi-act benefit for Medical Aid to El Salvador, with Jerry Garcia on the bill. The Kaiser Convention Center was packed. I had expected perhaps Garcia and Kahn, although I had noted it wasn't billed that way, and thought we might be lucky enough to get some electric Garcia.
Garcia, Santana and Bob Weir played extensively with Tower of Power, and then Garcia returned for a second set, jamming with NRBQ, Santana and even Wayne Shorter. Garcia was onstage for hours, and his guitar playing was memorable and powerful. I wrote about this at great length. This was everybody hopes all superstar benefits were like, and it only happened this one time. We shall not pass this way again.
April 16, 1988 Sexson Auditorium, Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA: Jackson Browne/David Crosby & Graham Nash/Bob Weir/Brent Mydland (Saturday) An Acoustic Benefit Concert for the SEVA FoundationBob Weir did an acoustic solo set, as did Brent Mydland on electric piano.
"Creating Our Future" was an organization founded by former Grateful Dead manager Bert Kagenson. Hot Tuna was an acoustic duo, Weir and Brent each played solo, and Garcia, Weir, Kahn and Mydland played two songs for the encore. The event apparently raised $20,000.
September 24, 1988 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY: Grateful Dead (Saturday) John Scher and The Rex Foundation Present A Rain Forest Benefit
On the ninth and last night of a run at Madison Square Garden, the Rex Foundation produced a Benefit for the Rain Forest. Guests included Mick Taylor, Suzanne Vega, Hall & Oates, Bruce Hornsby and Jack Casady. This high-profile event was a return to the concept of adding a benefit to a lengthy run at a single venue.
December 4, 1988 Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA: Neil Young/Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young/Bob Dylan/Jerry Garcia & Bob Weir/Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers/Billy Ido/Tracy Chapman (Sunday) Bill Graham Presents A Bridge School Benefit
The second Bridge School Benefit tied together some of the threads that begun years earlier by Bread and Roses, the Dead and Neil Young. Weir and bassist Rob Wasserman had just started performing as an acoustic duo. For the Bridge concert, Garcia made it a trio, and Neil Young joined in on harmonica for one number. Dylan played in a duo with his guitarist GE Smith, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played their first public acoustic set. According to Dylan scholar Ray Padgett, who interviewed G.E. Smith, then Dylan's guitarist, Jerry and Bob spent time backstage swapping obscure folk songs, trying to outdo each other (Neil Young and Tom Petty apparently looked on silently).
March 23, 1989 Gift Center Pavilion, San Francisco, CA: Jerry Garcia/Country Joe McDonald/Dinosaurs/Pete Sears, Nick Gravenites & Animal Mind (Wednesday) Artists Rights Today
At this show, Garcia played two songs on acoustic guitar with old pal Country Joe. More surprisingly, Garcia sat in on electric guitar for an entire set with Nick Gravenites. Gravenites sang his blues songs, and Garcia traded licks with Pete Sears on electric piano, ably supported by Doug Kilmer (bass) and Roy Blumenfield (drums). I did not attend this event because of conflicts, but I certainly did not expect that Garcia would sit in with Gravenites. The Gift Center, in SOMA at 8th and Brannan, was also the worst venue used by Bill Graham Presents, by a large margin, so I don't regret having missed it.
May 27, 1989 Oakland Coliseum Stadium, Oakland, CA: Grateful Dead/John Fogerty/Tracy Chapman/Joe Satriana/Los Lobos/Tower of Power (Saturday) In Concert Against AIDS
The Dead headlined a huge stadium benefit concert. Interestingly, original co-headliner Huey Lewis had to drop out because headlining the stadium would have affected ticket sales to his other shows, but the Dead had no such concerns. Garcia and Weir also backed John Fogerty, another unique occurrence. I wrote at length about this memorable event, the last of its kind for the Dead.
Bill Graham organized a slew of fundraising concerts after the October 17 Loma Prieta Earthquake in the Bay Area. Graham arranged for the Dead to do a separate event, however, because the sold-out Dead concert raised something like $200,000.
September 24, 1994 Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley, CA: Phil Lesh & Friends/Country Joe McDonald/Berkeley Alumni All-Stars/Michael Wolff Trio/Berkeley High Jazz Combo (Saturday) Bill Graham Presents A Benefit for the Berkeley Public Education Foundation To Save Music in Berkeley Schools
By late 1994, it was common for electric rock bands to play acoustic sets, whether for benefits or special occasion. MTV Unplugged had debuted on November 26, 1989, and thus major stars in all genres had played acoustic sets (the Dead were invited to perform on MTV Unplugged, but declined).
Still, when Berkeley High School music programs were threatened, Berkeley High alumni Phil Lesh brought his friends. Garcia, Weir, Phil and Vince Welnick played a 10-song acoustic set, the first such performance in about 13 years, depending on exactly how you want to count. The 1980 Mill Valley Rec Center had introduced the idea of acoustic Grateful Dead shows for a low-maintenance benefit ensemble, and they went out that way for a final ride.
